Bucks welcome Hubbers to Farwell Friday
By Bees O’Brien
FARWELL, PA – Bucktail (0-2; 0-1) will get a huge initiation on Friday night when the D9 League North Division leaders Smethport (3-0; 2-0) invades Farwell for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Hubbers haven’t made the trek to Western Clinton County since their 14-7 victory in 1959. That game was against the Renovo Railroaders and this contest will be the first time Smethport and the Bucks will ever meet under the Bucktail moniker.
Smethport is the real deal and feature one of the most explosive offenses in all of District 9. Victories over Sheffield, Brockway and Port Allegany, have the Hubbers a perfect 3-0 and atop of the North Division.
The Bucks looked good in their last outing two weeks ago against Cameron County. Some key adjustments helped solve some of their week one issues, but there’s plenty of work to do.
Bucktail had a bye week last week following their postponed contest against Union/A-C Valley. They will have had plenty of rest by the time Smethport rolls in.Smethport will be coming off of a convincing 35-14 win over a talented Port Allegany squad
For Bucktail, their success for this week will remain the same. They’ll rely heavily on senior quarterback Dylan Cross. Cross came into his own two weeks ago against Cameron County by tossing for 121 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Bucktail signal caller also ran for a team high 87 yards.
Senior Zack Pick caught four Cross passes for 54 yards and Bucktail’s first score of that contest. Pick also was a presence on the defensive side of things as well.
Brody Pentz continued to have an excellent first year outing for Bucktail in week 2. The Bucks newcomer scored his second touchdown of the 2021 season with a touchdown grab with three seconds remaining on the clock. He leads the squad in touchdowns this season with two.
Smethport’s attack begins and ends with Noah Lent. The Hubbers’ quarterback may very well be the best signal caller in all of District 9. Lent smoked Port Allegany for 204 yards rushing and tossed for 154 yards through the air. He also had two touchdown passes on the night.
Lent has a dangerous weapon in Alex Ognen to toss too as well. Ognen caught 3 passes for 82 yards and both of Lent’s touchdown passes.
Lent has help running the ball too. The Hubbers rely a lot on Ryan Pelchy to take the stress off of his star quarterback. Pelchy carried the ball 19 times for 89 yards against the Gators on Friday night.
Next week Bucktail returns to South Division play when they travel to Knox to face division- leading Keystone. Smethport will get back to North Division play when they host a revamped Otto-Eldred team.
Friday’s Bucktail game will be streamed live audio/video on therecord-online.com with Brian Probst and Frank Sutliff with the call.
